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I agree with the recurring pattern: often it goes like this:
<Yaya does something stupid>
<Harem time>
<Introduce bad guys/mystery of the volume>
<More Harem time>
---half way point---
<conflict takes place>
<battle+solution>
<Raishin ends up injured>
<More harem time at the end and a reflection by someone over what has happened>

Iirc the author mentioned about finishing the "first part" of the novel. I suppose the "fight of the volume" format is to keep readers attached while introducing all the background and characters involved.

This also begs the question: do people prefer to have the romcom integrated into the novel (such as the cooking contest), or have them separated as side stories? I personally do not mind having them integrated (although it may cut into the length of the plot). Some of the flavor goes away when I am reading side stories knowing they are fillers, and stories which might have taken place 2 or 3 volumes ago may also be a bit of a let down.

3+4 merger would be nice. Even though I wanted to see some Irori, I can't help but keep thinking how stupid Henriette and Yaya can be.

Yaya's plot-induced stupidity did not really occur to me. I guess I am tolerant when the auther uses her for the yandere jokes, but at moments that really matter she will stay by Raishin's side. (Forgot who it is, but someone mentioned that Yaya will likely still protect Raishin even if Raishin gets married.) It is further reinforced when Yaya swiftly returned by Raishin's side (in stealth) in vol5 even after he was engaged to Alice.

With Char's development, more happened in vol8. She befriended Hinowa (something that she likely would not have done in the past), and the conversation between Sigmund and Char carried a lot of depth. I am kind of sad how everyone seem to have gotten the conditions of decursing Charlotte though... as the words have to be true, I expected the confession to carry a lot more weight.

While she may have been the damsel in distress twice, I do not think it is entirely her fault. With what happened to Henriette: Alice way outclasses her and Charlotte is forced to do her biddings. Vol 7 was pretty much fan service but once again she cannot do anything about it (its a good moment for her to show her deredere side though). I think we will see some real growth in her in vol 9.

Not just with Charlotte, the rest of the crew needs to start learning how to rely on each other (Raishin is already willing to ask everyone for help when he needed the assistance).

Even though Hinowa is just a new addition, I believe underneath the soft shell lies a very strong character. Unlike most other heroines, she has the courage to face Raishin, and I am also impressed by her performance during her duel.

Similar to Charlotte possibly losing Sigmund, Loki failing to save Sophia... I believe Raishin need to loose "something". Classic example would be Raishin "using" his friends for revenge but end up critically injuring them.

Raishin has to realize he is no longer one lone wolf seeking vengeance, he now has to shoulder the hope and trust of the people around him. At some point he will also need to break out of the habit of asking doraemon Shoko and Kimberley for help. I believe he has pocketed enough experiences already to start fighting for "something he believes in" (and this might require him to break up his ties with the Japanese). More importantly, he needs to break free of being someone else's pawn.

Then there is also the offer from the prince...

Going from vol7->vol8 was just my inner curiosity screaming "hey look, Hinowa is making her debut!". Vol 8 laid down a lot for vol 9, thus my higher than usual expectation: because shit is about to hit the fan.

(any mistakes I make in this post/if I do not make any sense would be because I am half asleep)

I calculated in an earlier post that at the current rate, the manga will never catch up to the LN. The LN comes out roughly every 4 months, while there is no way the monthly manga can cover a volume in that time. Let's hope the LN author does not go on a hiatus. (I waited forever for the last volume of Full Metal Panic - and is still waiting for KyoAni to wrap up the series: seeing FMP's author on the Hyouka project gave me false hopes. *goes check Iris Zero manga status and end up disappointed again*).

Through a lot of my posts, if all stapled together, forms the skeleton of a summery of what happened in various volumes. I would probably have done more sophisticated summaries if I knew there is such a demand and if there wasn't a major backlog of LNs to finish.

Ah. I have to curse my forgetfulness regarding my points on Charlotte, which you pointed out.

Spoiler:

You were right indeed; her befriending of Hinowa was definitely a sign that she had grown out of her shell. I must apologize for having left that detail out due to my forgetfulness, and (now that I remember more of the details from Volume 8 after you have pointed it out) agree that she has indeed shown character growth.

You've made very good points, and now I can understand your brimming enthusiasm for Volume 9. Unfortunately, like you, I too have a huge backlog of light novels in the works *points at signature*. I suppose it wouldn't hurt for me to purchase Volume 9 once it comes out, seeing as I already have gone the extra mile and gotten Volumes 1 to 8; but that would have to wait once I am done with everything else I've planned to read.

I'd prefer to continue this conversation when you're not sleepy, so do go ahead and take your well-deserved rest.

Ah. I have to curse my forgetfulness regarding my points on Charlotte, which you pointed out.

Spoiler:

You were right indeed; her befriending of Hinowa was definitely a sign that she had grown out of her shell. I must apologize for having left that detail out due to my forgetfulness, and (now that I remember more of the details from Volume 8 after you have pointed it out) agree that she has indeed shown character growth.

You've made very good points, and now I can understand your brimming enthusiasm for Volume 9. Unfortunately, like you, I too have a huge backlog of light novels in the works *points at signature*. I suppose it wouldn't hurt for me to purchase Volume 9 once it comes out, seeing as I already have gone the extra mile and gotten Volumes 1 to 8; but that would have to wait once I am done with everything else I've planned to read.

I'd prefer to continue this conversation when you're not sleepy, so do go ahead and take your well-deserved rest.

Lol that's like me, after I read a series I go off to read some other novels and when the next volume comes out, I will have to re read the whole thing cause I would had forgotten everything by then *shot* But this series is definitely really good, you should definitely read it when you have time~

At roughly 4 months per volume I think it is being published at a pretty decent rate.

I have decent enough memory that it is difficult for me to reread something and still enjoy it, usually I just check out the last little bit of something and all the memory would flow in.

This is especially true when it comes to any sort of "puzzle" integrated into the story (ie: how Raishin defeated cannibal candy or komurasaki's volume).

Maybe when I get older I will be more forgetful - allowing me to enjoy the same book over and over and over

My greatest weakness would be my weak Japanese (of which I understand ~20%). I rely on the Chinese translations (of which I can understand ~90%) but translation projects tend to stall a lot/get dropped after the first few volumes (still better than the j->e projects though).

Even though this series can be considered to be moving at snail pace due to the dilution of multiple heroines, I still prefer LNs a lot more than monthly mangas. Let's hope it does not take itachi Marcus 10 years to die.

At roughly 4 months per volume I think it is being published at a pretty decent rate.

I have decent enough memory that it is difficult for me to reread something and still enjoy it, usually I just check out the last little bit of something and all the memory would flow in.

This is especially true when it comes to any sort of "puzzle" integrated into the story (ie: how Raishin defeated cannibal candy or komurasaki's volume).

Maybe when I get older I will be more forgetful - allowing me to enjoy the same book over and over and over

My greatest weakness would be my weak Japanese (of which I understand ~20%). I rely on the Chinese translations (of which I can understand ~90%) but translation projects tend to stall a lot/get dropped after the first few volumes (still better than the j->e projects though).

Even though this series can be considered to be moving at snail pace due to the dilution of multiple heroines, I still prefer LNs a lot more than monthly mangas. Let's hope it does not take itachi Marcus 10 years to die.

Lol I'm reading the chinese translations too, it mght take 4 months for the novel to be release, but the translation time is another story~ and LN is definitely good as well, but you have to understand in monthly manga the author and artist actually have to draw out all the panels and etc, in a way it actually might be more difficult to write out an entire novel. ~ Though I am more of a light novel-ist than a monthly manga-ist

Lol I'm reading the chinese translations too, it mght take 4 months for the novel to be release, but the translation time is another story~ and LN is definitely good as well, but you have to understand in monthly manga the author and artist actually have to draw out all the panels and etc, in a way it actually might be more difficult to write out an entire novel. ~ Though I am more of a light novel-ist than a monthly manga-ist

While we are talking about monthly manga, i just don't like the fact that nearly all popular series from MF Bunko get adapted into manga solely in Monthly Comic Alive (Including KnK, SnD, Tsuki2, etc). It's very cramped with all kind of manga, which resulted in them butcher the number of pages in favor of 'reserving' places. Seiken no Blacksmith is the worst example. In earlier chapter, it got about 39 pages per chapter. But now, it has less than 13 pages. I'm afraid that they keep increasing the number of mangas in that magazine, butchering each pages, and in result, those series need forever to keep up with LN.

I have always thought that the manga adaptations are mostly there to advertise for the source.

It's a mutually beneficial arrangement though: as those who are already interested in the novel might be interested in the manga (for ksk, I much prefer the manga's art than the LN illustrations). On the other hand, those who purchase Monthly Comic Alive (or other periodic manga compilations) would be exposed to other stories and eventually become interested in the source material (this is what happened to me).

I stated multiple times: at its current rate, the ksk manga will never catch up to the LN. I am fine with that thoughbecause Charlotte looks 10x better. Conversely: what will happen if the manga caught up to the LN and exceeded it?

On the ugly side of things, there are some decent manga out there that get axed (ie: Mx0) in favor of new ones (or in come cases, like Iris Zero, the author/illustrator get sick/just disappear?). I will be honest and say the big 3 and other decade long manga has to go (lost interest in Bleach a long time ago).

I almost forgot about the existence of Ah My Goddess (basically a 20 year old long tease) until I accidentally clicked on the wrong thread on this forum when browsing over my phone. I guess when a behemoth like that comes to an end I can just shut myself in during a long weekend and go through the series in one go.

While we are talking about monthly manga, i just don't like the fact that nearly all popular series from MF Bunko get adapted into manga solely in Monthly Comic Alive (Including KnK, SnD, Tsuki2, etc). It's very cramped with all kind of manga, which resulted in them butcher the number of pages in favor of 'reserving' places. Seiken no Blacksmith is the worst example. In earlier chapter, it got about 39 pages per chapter. But now, it has less than 13 pages. I'm afraid that they keep increasing the number of mangas in that magazine, butchering each pages, and in result, those series need forever to keep up with LN.

That's true I agree with you there, so I often just think of manga as advertising material like Flying Dagger =w= You can't really expect monthly manga to catch up on novels even if they get more pages, at the rate KsK is going, it be another ten years or so before they catch up to the novel =w= that's why personally I perfer original manga than novel-to-manga kinda thing.

This thread looks dead for some reason. I was just wondering that automatons have ability to grow up just like any normal creatures, judging from Raishin comment towards Murasaki that states that she has become bigger than years before.

Alice bought this up before, and asked if Raishin considered her as a human.

The existence of banned dolls gives the definition of organic vs doll be become overlapping vague.

We have (from human to machine):
- Alice, born human but has mechanical lamps and some mechanical organs. Considered human I guess?
- Frey's dogs, who were dogs with mechanical parts, that are considered a banned dolls.
- Yaya, almost girl like, but origins unknown. Ionela may imply she is made from organic materials so there is still a chance she is completely "made". (1)
- Ionela's doll, whom is purely mechanical but resembles very closely to a human.
- Obvious machines.

(1) One of the hinted, yet untouched upon, plot in the novel would be the existence of human banned dolls. One of Marcus' look strikingly similar to his (and Raishin's) sister, while it has als been asked where Shoko got the materials to make Yaya. If Yaya is human, her background story might open up an entire new plotline.

Magic circuits seem to break the limits of a human body. Even Raishin, while under the influence of Yaya's powers, can output strength that far suppress what a human body should be capable of (or maybe because this is a shounen novel). Banned dolls need to eat and seem to have the ability to gradually recover injuries over time...

...and all of a sudden I realize I missed something: the doctor talked about Raishin having heightened recovery powers (xmen's wolverine does too!) and that Yaya is constantly (and unknowingly) draining Raishin's recovery powers (not sure if she is actually draining his life force or it may have to do with how magical powers interact with the human body).

Yaya's horn on her forehead during her super saiyan form might not be something capable of happening with the basis of a human body.

I trust the author will find opportunities to shine more lights onto their background and creation over time. He still has not explain why Yaya started to become overly attached to Raishin.

Perhaps we should make this 'manga' thread instead of 'LN' thread, since most of us here cannot read japanese nor chinese.

BTW, i stumbled on a mysterious question while reading manga chap 1. Shoko gave Raishin her automatons sister so that Raishin can avenge people that slaughtered his family. Then, what Raishin gave to Shoko in return? Is it his own life or something else?

Perhaps we should make this 'manga' thread instead of 'LN' thread, since most of us here cannot read japanese nor chinese.

BTW, i stumbled on a mysterious question while reading manga chap 1. Shoko gave Raishin her automatons sister so that Raishin can avenge people that slaughtered his family. Then, what Raishin gave to Shoko in return? Is it his own life or something else?

Something like that. Exact terms are not known. Right now he works for the Japanese military through Shoko.

As one of the last surviving UchihaAkabane (even though he is a failure), his body itself may carry an exceptional value that Shoko knew about.

I feel that Shoko character is full of misteries. Not to mention eyepatch on her left eye. Don't tell me she hides something dangerous there?

Also, are bandolls really forbidden? I read some chapter in manga and found that Bandolls are made in inhumane way, but it seems they have more brute strength than any normal automatons.

Banned dolls are unethical and creation of banned dolls will get normal people into trouble.
However given the importance of the night party and the academy being a nexus of some of the most potent masters, as well as people with banned dolls exhibiting exceptional abilities from the usage of their dolls, it just feel like "everyone has one these days" (or a pack of them if your name is Frey).

Part of a banned doll's powers come from their strong magic circuits. Strong organic bodies (such as a dragon) might be superior than clog and gears of a pure mechanical body. Say, if you have this really powerful magic circuit in your hands, you most probably want to pair it up with the strongest body (or most suitable) that you can find.

In the case of sigmund, their high degree of sentience and wisdom also help a lot.

I guess the society frowns on the creation of those dolls, but the possession of them is a lot more forgiving.

Oh, in my previous post I forgot to include a new class of dolls: Spirit dolls summoned forth by Hinowa and also a loli necromancer character. As they are "created out of nothing" (well, there are tools related to summoning), I am not even sure if they utilize magic circuits (Eve's heart + a power granting one). I think those doll users should just be classified as magicians/summoners.